Sixth Sense
by CrypticMoonFang
Summary: Mabel mysteriously disappears one night, and Dipper is more than determined to find her. But when she's found five years later, the Mabel he finds isn't the Mabel he knew. T for drug content and maybe minor sexual references (in later chapters). NOT incest!
1. Chapter 1

~Chapter 1~

**(Dipper's POV)**

I woke up one morning, and my sister was there, hyper and covered head to toe in colorful stickers. She loved those stickers and even when I insisted she take them off, she shook her head and smiled brightly. She said that she couldn't take them off, that they were just so...sticky. Yeah, Mabel was my twin sister. We'd been together since birth, and we'd never been separated since. It was true, what they said about twins having special abilities. No, we didn't quite have telepathy. Heck, most of the time it was hard to tell what exactly was going on that girl's head. However, we could sense when the other was in trouble. If Mabel was distressed, I knew it. If I was upset, she knew it. We never kept secrets from each other, we shared an unbreakable bond, a kinship that would never fade, a connection that would never be destroyed, a familial love that could never be replaced.

At least...that was how it used to be... See, I woke up one morning to find Mabel missing. She didn't leave a note, she never hinted at where she was going... I kept thinking she was out...I don't know, chasing fireflies or butterflies, or anything else that caught her fascination. I didn't worry about until it was getting late, and she still hadn't turned up. I had a restless night that night, and five years later, we still couldn't find her. I kept worrying that something bad had happened to her. But when I reflected on the matter, I'd noticed she had fallen into a sort of depression a few days before she disappeared. Either something happened to her, or she left on her own.

Only problem was...why? Assuming she chose to leave on her own will, why would she go without telling anyone? She'd up and vanished without a trace. She left nothing to go on. We were twins, why would she go off all on her own without telling me? She had been depressed about something before she left, that much I knew. But being Mabel, I didn't think much of it. That girl could look at a rock and be happy, and she was capable of turning any frown upside down. It made no sense... She was never the type of person to leave without warning anybody first. It just wasn't like her to do this.

And Gravity Falls...well, it was a small town in the middle of who-knows-where. Everybody knew each other, including Mabel. We'd gone around the town every day asking if anyone saw her, or if anyone knew anything. The responses we got weren't good. Nobody had seen her leave, and nobody had seen her around. Uncle Stan had helped move along a search party, but all in vain. Our efforts were fruitless. Even after five whole years...my twin sister was still missing. And I was starting to think she would never show up, and I would never see her again. It made me regret saying and doing some of the things I did. I wanted Mabel back, I wanted to see her in her glorious stickers, flaunting them like they were the greatest thing in the world. She was my sister, I was supposed to protect her and be there for her. Now she was gone and all I had were memories of her.

I looked toward the setting sun. Mabel loved sunsets. She used to drag me to the top of the roof just to watch the sun go down. Then she would put on a light-up sweater, or a glow-in-the-dark necklace, or something like that. Oh, how I missed her...her giggles...her girlishness...everything else... She was just so innocent, she never did anything she thought was wrong, she never tried to hurt other people. But this just didn't add up, I couldn't understand why she would leave. I was her brother, I should've been the first one she told. We never kept secrets from each other...ever...

I never stopped looking for her. I rested, but nightmares often came. Not a single day went by when I didn't think about her. It had been five years, we were both seventeen now. She would look different when and if I found her, but not too different. We were identical twins, so we looked pretty much the same. Well, except she would have more feminine features.

"Mabel loved the sunshine," I heard Uncle Stan say as he walked in the room. He bent over and picked up one of her old magazines and dusted it off. "She loved to read these things, too."

I looked down at the floor. I hadn't touched her stuff since she went missing. Glitter, stickers, glue bottles, stencils, and colored markers still coated the floor. There were a few origami swans and paper hats here and there, and her magazines were stacked up neatly in the corner. It let me feel closer to Mabel, but it would never replace her. It wasn't enough, I wanted my sister back.

"Yeah...I know..." I mumbled. "She loved everything."

"It's been five years since we last saw her." He didn't need to remind me. I'd refused to celebrate my birthday since she left. "Do you think she might be far away?"

I sighed and answered, "She could be anywhere by now."

He managed a weak smile. "I'm sure we'll find her soon enough. She's probably right on the edge of town, playing with us."

I shook my head. "We both know that's not Mabel." I kicked at a random glitter pile. A cloud rose up, but settled down quickly.

Uncle Stan didn't say anything else. Talking to me about Mabel was practically useless, unless he was trying to make me angry. She had become a very touchy subject, and each word had to be chosen very carefully. I'd been known to beat people up if I even caught a whiff of insult. And sometimes they weren't insulting her at all, sometimes they were just trying to cheer me up. Mabel was never mentioned much anymore. Not around me anyway. I knew they talked about her behind my back though, during the moments where they thought I couldn't hear them. They were wrong, I was always listening to them, hoping that someone had information about her whereabouts. Nothing useful ever came up. Sometimes I thought I heard something, but most of the time it was just people pitying me. They all thought for sure she was dead, and would never be found. Even if she _had_ died, though, I wanted to find her. No, I _needed_ to find her.

I sighed again. I missed her beyond words. "She's still alive, you know."

Uncle Stan looked at me for the first time since he'd picked up that magazine. "How can you tell?"

"The sixth sense. We can feel when the other one is hurt. She's alive," I replied.

"Well, can you sense where she's at?" he asked.

"If I could, we'd have found her years ago."

I would give anything to be able to sense where she was at. We could've found her if I had that ability. Found her, brought her back, and kept her nice and happy and safe and comfortable... I didn't know where she was at, or what had happened to her. I felt a renewed urge to look for again, even though it was nighttime and the chances of me finding her at night were slim to none. But maybe if I brought a flashlight or a lantern with me, it would give me enough light to be able to see where I was going without getting lost.

"I'm going out for a little while," I told Uncle Stan.

He didn't say a word, and moved aside as I grabbed a flashlight and headed out the door. I would never give up on finding my sister, not now, not ever. I didn't care what anyone else said, I knew she was alive, I could feel it. I would find Mabel or die trying.

I ran out into the thick woods surrounding Gravity Falls. Many people had gone out here looking for her before, and I'd gone out here almost every day. But I would keep trying. She was alive. Maybe other people didn't know it, but I did and that was what mattered. And I was determined to find her one way or another.

I trekked through the woods, easily recognizing every tree and rock in my path. I'd learned the forest, so I wouldn't get lost. I'd scoured every square inch of this place, top to bottom. Somehow I managed to keep a little flame of hope alive inside me. I relied on it, sure that I would find my lost sister. But I'd always wandering for hours on end in these accursed woods without any luck. The trees were thick enough to hide just about anything. Finding Mabel could turn out to be impossible. Maybe she'd moved far away from Gravity Falls, on the other side of the country even! And besides, it had been five depressing years since she went missing. She could be anywhere. Maybe she'd gone out chasing a squirrel or something and got lost in the woods. She didn't know the woods as well as I did, and honestly I didn't know the woods very well at the time of her disappearance.

I searched the woods for hours, my flashlight landing on all sorts of critters. But sadly my search was ended by an oncoming storm, and a big one by the looks of it. It was getting late anyway, and chances were, I wouldn't find Mabel tonight. I needed to go back home and get some rest. I could resume looking for her tomorrow morning, if it wasn't still storming. But just in case, I called out her name one more time. As I expected, there was no answer. I sighed and headed back to the Mystery Shack, where I would spend yet another night dreading what might've happened to Mabel during the time she'd been gone.

* * *

I turned over in my bed. The bare amount of deluded light coming in through the window told me it was time to get up and search for my sister.

And the days went on as such. No luck finding Mabel, plenty of storms to force me back into the Mystery Shack, and efforts to keep myself motivated. It was hard even for me to assume that one day, Mabel might magically show up in Gravity Falls and continue doing whatever it was she liked doing. Knowing her, she was probably still into rainbows and shiny things. Every day used to be such an adventure with her, but now it just wasn't the same... She always knew how to cheer people up, and I hoped prayed that one day she would come home and cheer me up. All I wanted now was to have her home, safe and sound. Maybe she would still be a little strange, but that was part of her charm. She was the light of Gravity Falls, we all needed her to brighten our days. The whole town seemed less enthusiastic without her. But I was the one suffering most from her absence. It hurt, not knowing where she was at or even if she was okay. I needed her back, and I needed to know what happened on the night she vanished. It was another mystery, but this time it seemed to be one that couldn't be solved. Unless we could find her, we would never know what happened on that horrible night. Maybe she didn't run away, maybe she'd been kidnapped.

No, no, I didn't want to believe that. It was a possibility, but I just couldn't live knowing that I'd failed to protect her when she needed me most. No one could ever do such a thing to Mabel, she was just too cute...right? Everybody fell for her charm...right? Everyone loved her, who could possibly bring themselves to abduct such an innocent child? No one, it was impossible! Unless someone was jealous of her... No, wait. That couldn't be right, everyone in Gravity Falls loved her. None of them ever seemed to be jealous of her, especially because of her...uh...Mabelness, I suppose you could call it. Point being, no one who knew her would do anything to hurt her.

Every day, I continued my search. Every day, I failed. I always worried about Mabel. This feeling in my gut kept me worried. I couldn't calm down. I didn't think I would ever calm down until I knew she was safe. I needed to know my twin sister was okay. And it would help immensely if I knew where she was at. There were nights that I got so paranoid about her well-being that I couldn't sleep. I wanted her back so badly...I would do whatever it took, I'd even give my own life to save hers if I had to! I just...I just wanted her back...

**A/N **

**Just in case no one read the summary, this story contains drug content in later chapters. It's also Angst for a reason. Oh, and there will be NO, repeat that, NO incest! It's wrong on so many levels, and I don't support it at all. It sickens me, actually. The love Dipper and Mabel share for each other is PURELY familial and NOTHING else. There also may be minor sexual references, but I'm not quite sure. Right now I'm just letting the story lead me along. No spoilers will be given, but cliffhangers will probably be there.**


	2. Chapter 2

~Chapter 2~

**(Mabel's POV)**

Ah...paradise... What lovely lights, and all those stars just popped out at me. Nice scenery in paradise, as I'd come to call it. The sky was always clear, and the strange things that happened here made me feel good for once. I'd grown tired of Gravity Falls. Er...I'm pretty sure that was what it was called. It had been some while since I left. Anyway, now I didn't have to think about fading into the background, and all the bad things happening only to me, like when I was kidnapped by gnomes, or that time I was forced into a relationship with Gideon. It had been growing old, and I started to feel like I needed to meet everyone's expectations. So I ran away, hoping to find a new life somewhere else. I didn't tell Dipper or anyone else. I didn't want to be found, I just wanted to be by myself for once. And I'd found the absolute best life now. I was at home, always so comfortable. Well, most of the time. I kept sweating all the time, but it was oh so worth it. So...worth it.

Another light, a purple one that looked kind of like a shooting star, flew right over my head in little circles. Suddenly two more, this time orange, came out of nowhere and danced around the purple one. The lights were bright, but not too bright. Everything was so...perfect. Forget Gravity Falls and its mysterious habits of all kinds of legends and lore, this was heaven on Earth. All kinds of strange things happened, but they were all good things. Everything was peaceful and serene. This was truly something to be happy about. It was something to savor, until it disappeared that is. But hey, that would be awhile. I could stay in my own little world for a long time. My own little world...everything working the way I wanted it to, everything going smoothly, always something entertaining...and it was always, _always_ perfect. It was hard to ask for more than this. Every single thing in the world of Mabel was just what I wanted.

The three lights that were circling overhead broke apart into tiny specks, like a shower of colorful snowflakes. When they hit my skin, something warm inside me arose. I never could figure out what that was, but it felt good, and good things were good.

A golden color filled the sky as I lay contentedly on my back. It was like watching the most beautiful sunset. Streaks of blue flew across that pretty golden color. It was like a meteor shower. Suddenly a white light burst out in front of my eyes and closed in on me, surrounding me and allowing me to enter a new world entirely. It never made sense, what happened in my mind, but in a weird way, it did make sense, much like a dream. Anything could happen here...anything at all. The white faded away to reveal a jungle of mirrors. I walked up to one and waved to the mirror. My reflection froze in the mirror and another Mabel came out of it. Then, from all the other mirrors, more Mabels came out. They were friendly Mabels and greeted me with kindness. All of them wanted to shake my hand and talk about whatever. It was really just nonsense but in my head it made perfect sense. I was practically worshiped in my world. It was my world, mine to control. At the same time, though, I couldn't control it. Things just...happened. I didn't know when the first Land of Mabel would turn into the second Land of Mabel.

The mirrors vanished suddenly and I found myself in pitch blackness, falling...up. See? Anything was possible, even if it meant defying gravity. I stopped falling up and started to bump around. Sometimes this kind of stuff happened, other times they didn't. The Land of Mabel always held amazing surprises. The impossible became possible here. Here...in my perfect world.

* * *

**(Dipper's POV)**

I couldn't believe my eyes. After all this time spent searching for her...I'd finally found her. My sister was alive! She was alive, and she wasn't hurt, and she looked so peaceful sleeping. Although, apparently some things had changed over the course of five years. Her physical appearance was to be expected, where her body had filled out, and she had much more feminine features now. But I didn't know when she started sleep talking. She was mumbling about something, but it was incomprehensible. I had no idea what she was saying. But you know...that was fine, it was okay by me if she talked in her sleep. I was just happy to see her. In fact, I was so happy I was crying! I just couldn't believe it, she was right here in front of me, my beloved twin sister whom I'd been looking for all this time, the same person whom everyone said was dead, but she wasn't dead or anything like that, she didn't seem to be hurt, she looked just fine! I missed her so much, and now here she was!

I bent down beside her. She was laying on her side, breathing evenly and calmly. I gently shook her shoulder. I wanted to find out what happened to her on the night that changed my life. She didn't wake up and kept mumbling. Her eyebrows furrowed, as if she was concentrating on something, but they soon returned to a neutral position. I shook her shoulder again, this time a little harder. I was mindful of my strength, which had grown in the past five years. I didn't want to hurt her by accident.

She still didn't wake up... Mabel used to always wake up at the gentlest of touches and the softest of sounds.

"Hey, Mabel," I croaked. "Mabel...wake up. It's Dipper."

There was no response. She kept mumbling, but I doubted she was telling me something. I turned her onto her back. I reminded myself that she wasn't the little girl I remembered, that she was a teenager now and probably wasn't going to wake up easily anymore. I shined my flashlight in her eyes. They fluttered for a moment, but didn't open. She was still asleep. I sighed. This might be a little harder than I thought. But...I would do anything for her.

I picked her up bridal style. She was unusually light, but I assumed that it was a combination of my strength and her small frame. Amazingly enough, she still wouldn't wake up from it. And I noticed that she was sweating. She was asleep and sweating... Maybe she got sick from being in the woods. Yeah, that would explain why she didn't wake up, or perhaps refused to even open her eyes. Yeah...yeah, that made sense. There was a big storm last night, maybe she'd gotten caught in it. And if she was sick, I had to get her back to Gravity Falls. Mabel was coming home, at long last!

I carried her carefully through the forest, weaving around trees and shrubs and what was probably poison ivy. I tried not to jostle her too much, but I almost tripped over a rock. Thankfully I regained my balance, and somehow managed to keep her in my arms. Neither of us got hurt, but it wasn't really me I cared about, I didn't want Mabel to get hurt.

And of course, let's cue the rain. Because every time something big happened, it would start to rain. And it _did_ start to rain. Except, it quickly turned into a downpour. I was soaked before I could get back to Gravity Falls, let alone the Mystery Shack. And poor Mabel...she was dripping wet. I'd tried to shelter her from the rain but it was apparent that I hadn't done such a great job. I wondered if it would've been better to hide under a tree or something and wait out the storm rather than blindly run through it and get lucky enough to come back to Gravity Falls.

But the important thing was that we'd made it to the Mystery Shack, where I could get Mabel warmed up and dried off. I couldn't tell if she had a fever if she was cold from the rain. Plus, it probably didn't help her health.

I couldn't use my arms or hands, so I kicked the door several times, making sure I was kicking hard at it to let Uncle Stan know it was urgent.

* * *

**(Mabel's POV)**

I was cold. It had gone from a turbulent black space to a freezing ice block in a sea of slush. I was on the ice block, shivering. Everything always went perfectly, so why was I so cold? There was wind and rain, and I was half frozen. My feet were starting to stick to the ice block. This was my little fantasy, why wouldn't this thing work?

Two balls of light appeared, each filled with soft rainbow colors, and came down to me. They engulfed me and lifted me from the ice block. They began carrying me far away from that frozen sea. I was warmed up immediately. There we go, now things were back to normal. At least, for now they were. I felt another bump under the orb of light. I didn't know what it was, but it was gone now. I smiled and sat back, treating the orb like a comfortable bean bag.

* * *

**(Dipper's POV)**

Uncle Stan opened the door and before he even knew what was going on, I rushed inside. Mabel had spent too long outside. She was sweating, she was shaking, she wouldn't wake up... Why couldn't I have found her before the storm got us? What if she'd caught something bad, like pneumonia?  
I couldn't worry about that right at the moment, I needed to get her warm. She was ice cold from all that rain.

Uncle Stan walked into the attic, where I'd just tucked my sister into bed. Her heart rate was faster than normal, but I would imagine it would be. Illness and cold weather didn't go very well together. But at least I'd brought her back, at least she was back home. That was what mattered most to me right now.

I heard footsteps coming up the ladder and knew it was Uncle Stan. I was busy putting another blanket over Mabel. Just wait 'til he saw her. Even he had a hint of doubt, but tonight I would purge all doubt from anyone. My sister had been strong and survived whatever she'd gone through. That is, if she'd actually gone through anything. I wouldn't know until she woke up. But at least then she could tell me all about what happened, and I could tell her she was safely where she belonged. Then everything would return to normal, except that I would have much more appreciation for Mabel.

I wondered what she would be like now that years had passed. I doubted her personality had changed much, if at all. But maybe she'd developed new hobbies, or what if she still liked all that glitter and rhinestones? I couldn't help but wonder if five years had made a difference in her.

"Is that who I think it is?" Uncle Stan asked. I didn't turn around to look at him, but I knew that face of his was wearing a smile.

"I found her in the woods, but a storm caught us before I could bring her back. I think she's sick," I answered. "I'm trying to get her warmed up again."

"Why was she in the woods?" he asked.

"I don't know, I found her unconscious. I tried waking her up, but nothing I did worked." I sighed. "We'll just have to wait until she comes to."


	3. Chapter 3

~Chapter 3~

**(Mabel's POV)**

I kept turning over in my bed. I was only half awake, and still groggy, but I was also sleepy and restless. I didn't know how I got here. It could just be another weird happening inside the Land of Mabel, but it could also be real. Sometimes things in my head got so realistic that I couldn't tell the difference. Last thing I remember, I was in the woods enjoying myself. Now I was out of those woods and back at the Mystery Shack. To top that, my bed was soaked. I didn't know if I'd sweated that much or if there had been a storm last night, but either way, it wasn't very comfortable. And if it wasn't comfortable, it couldn't be in my head, which meant...it was real... So I was actually back here in Gravity Falls, the very place I'd escaped from. And I was awake even though I wanted to sleep. Although...I had to admit, I was a little curious as to what became of Dipper and everyone else. I wondered if I could even recognize them after I'd been gone so long.

I suddenly came to the realization that I'd zoned off again. I tended to do that pretty often. I didn't quite know why, because everything that went on in my head was let out into the real world, so zoning out and thinking about real-life matters was kind of weird, even though I'd been doing it for so long. I guess it was just one of those things you couldn't get used to, no matter how hard you tried. Kind of like how I had weird tremors. I didn't mean to be shaky, I just was. Only, after awhile, you got used to it. The sweating, though, wasn't something you could easily get used to. And then there was the paranoia, I was so paranoid about everything, and I had no idea why. Plus, I didn't have much of an appetite anymore. My mouth was always dry. It used to bug me, but it didn't anymore. One thing that kind of worried me was my heart. It always beat really fast for some reason. But the worst thing of all was my impaired judgement. I would bump into things sometimes without meaning to, trip over my own two feet, and sometimes even have trouble turning a doorknob.

I felt my eyes widen as I realized something. I was back in Gravity Falls, which meant people would know I was back, which meant they would see me sweating and and all, which meant they would want to know why! I knew why, except for some of the things that were going on with me, but I couldn't let _them_ find out. I loved the Land of Mabel, I didn't want to leave just because people wanted to snoop around.

Oh no...Dipper must've found me in the woods and brought me back here. I didn't want to be here! Of all places, why had I chosen to go to the woods that surrounded the one place I didn't want to be? I probably didn't even know where I was going at the time. Still, it was a stupid idea... Of course, it was the psychosis. I didn't know what was real and what was unreal. But the point was, people would want to find out, and the longer I stayed here, the greater that chance would be...I think. I wasn't really sure... Actually, how could I really be sure I was back in Gravity Falls? Oh...I hated being so confused... Real life wasn't like the Land of Mabel, where everything was made easy and pleasant. No, real life sucked the fun out of everything! Except, there was a fifty-fifty chance I wasn't in Gravity Falls.

I felt my head. I was burning up. This wasn't good, I needed to get out of here now. If it was the Land of Mabel then it needed to change its scenery. I crawled out of bed and looked at my surroundings for a minute. Dipper was in his bed asleep, so he hadn't heard me get up. I didn't know where Uncle Stan was, but to my best guess, he was probably sleeping in front of the TV. I would have to be silent. If Uncle Stan was the way I remembered him to be, he wouldn't wake up that easily. Dipper, on the other hand, would wake up in an instant. I had to hope five years had changed that.

I tiptoed slowly across the room, until I reached the ladder that lead down to the first floor of the Mystery Shack. It was already dark, I couldn't see a thing, but I had to try to get down there. As I struggled to put my foot on the first step of the ladder, a tremor ran through my body. I lost my hold.

* * *

**(Dipper's POV)**

A huge thump startled me awake. I quickly sat up in my bed and looked around, wondering if what I heard was real or part of a dream. I heard a groan coming from right downstairs and made my way to the light switch. Before I could flip it on, the lights from downstairs glowed into the attic. I decided against turning the lights up here on since I could see in the room anyway. As I rushed over to the opening in the floor, I heard Uncle Stan's heavy footsteps. They were fast, as though he was running. I peered down to find Mabel pushing herself off the ground.

I hopped down the ladder, jumping off at the last three steps. she seemed to be okay, but she was sick. Weren't sick people supposed to _want_ to sleep? Usually they slept all night, except maybe waking up to cough or throw up. Maybe that was why she tried to get downstairs, maybe she was feeling sick at her stomach.

I held out my hand and helped her up. Her eyes were closed. Strange...even for her.

"Are you alright, Mabel?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." Her voice hadn't changed very much. In fact, it sounded almost exactly like her voice back when she was twelve.

Uncle Stan pushed me out of the way and studied her face. "What's wrong with your eyes?"

I didn't know why it mattered so much, but it was kind of weird that she wouldn't open her eyes. You would think someone would want to see where they were going, especially if they were trying to climb down a ladder. Uncle Stan had a point there. I wondered if it was part of her sickness.

* * *

**(Mabel's POV)**

They were onto me, I just knew it! It would only be a matter of time before they would have questions. They would investigate, they would discover, they were going to find me out any minute now and I would never be able to leave! And my eyes would be a dead giveaway. I couldn't let them see my eyes, not until I came down. My pupils were still too big, they would know immediately if they saw them.

"Nothing!" I said, probably a little too loudly.

I heard some kind of movement. It was too risky, they couldn't know... It would be terrible, my life would never be the same again and the Land of Mabel would cease to exist! Messing with the Land of Mabel was not a wise thing to do. And it was my own little world, where everything was amazing and colorful and random. Actually, being in the Land of Mabel was exactly like that one time I ate too much of that Smile Dip. My world, my head, my rules. And in the Land of Mabel, there was only one rule: nobody takes it away. I was _not_ going to leave all that behind just to return to some creepy town in Oregon. The unnatural life they called "reality" just wasn't for me. They could enjoy mosquito bites and monsters chasing them all they wanted, but I would much rather stay in _my_ land where _I_ could be happy.

I felt someone put a hand on my shoulder.

"Mabel, are you feeling okay?" Dipper asked.

I brushed his hand off. "I just need some air."

I didn't give him time to reply. I cracked my eyes open just enough to where I could see out, but my eyelashes shaded my eyes so no one could see them. The Mystery Shack was just how I'd left it, practically untouched. Looking back, I probably shouldn't have chosen to climb down a ladder when I was just coming down. I guess I kind of asked for this. Yet another mess that Mabel Pines had gotten herself into, and this time Dipper wasn't here to save her. Right now, in fact, Dipper was my enemy. Uncle Stan, Wendy, Soos, and everyone else.

I turned away from Dipper and Uncle Stan and made my way to the door. I didn't have any more problems with my coordination, and thankfully no one tried to stop me. I only needed to get away until my pupils shrunk back to their original size, then I could come back and try to get some sleep. After all, what good would running away do me if I was exhausted? Plus, I would probably be watched from now on. They were probably onto me already, plotting against the Land of Mabel, devising a way to remove it from existence. They were conspiring, I just knew it. I would have to lay low and avoid attracting attention to myself. Last thing I needed was for them to find out a way to keep me locked up, never again to see the wonders that lay behind the horizon of the Land of Mabel. I just couldn't lose that...

* * *

**(Wendy's POV)**

I'd been shocked to come to work to find none other than the long lost Mabel Pines herself, in the flesh. I thought for sure she was dead by now. Five years, she had been missing. _Five_ years. That was a really long time. So long, in fact, that the police called off the search after the first four months. Dipper kept telling everyone she was alive, but no one believed him. He kept telling us that he had this weird twin sense, which he called the "sixth sense", and could tell when his sister was hurt or in trouble. We still thought she was dead, and that Dipper was in denial. But no, she was alive and even more surprisingly, she was _back_.**  
**

But I'd noticed that although she was alive, she wasn't well. Something about her was completely off. I knew all about being a teenager, and none of what she did made much sense. She would disappear for a few hours each day, sometimes up to three times a day. When she left, she was quiet and wary, but when she came back, she looked like she'd just crashed after too many energy drinks. Normally I wouldn't care much about what happened in Gravity Falls, but this was by far the strangest thing I'd ever seen. I'd seen a ton of mythical creatures and weird happenings, but one day Mabel went missing, five years later she was found, and now she was being so secretive about everything she did.

She was hiding something, no doubt. But what in the world could _she_ possibly be hiding? I'd asked Dipper on multiple occasions, but he had absolutely no idea. Even I knew Mabel didn't keep secrets from anyone, especially her own brother. I'd never felt so curious in my life. Her secret must be big for her to be so paranoid about someone finding out. I wanted to know what was up with her. Gravity Falls was full of mystery and suspense, but Mabel kept sneaking off somewhere to do something. I had to know what she was hiding.

**A/N**

**You might want to keep reading, the next chapter will be completely random. Readers have been warned...  
**


	4. Chapter 4

~Chapter 4~

**(Wendy's POV)**

I decided to be patient and wait a few days before following her. I would be discrete, and try not to let her discover me. Now, spying on someone wasn't something I would normally do, but thankfully I was an expert at sneaking around. I just hoped that was enough to keep me hidden. If she found out I was following her, she would probably attempt to lead me off course, and go somewhere else. I didn't need to be thrown off, what I needed was to see where she slipped off to each day.

After a couple days was up, I hoped I'd gained at least a little bit of her trust. If not, she would be furious with me if I was found stalking her. Either way, my curiosity got the better of me, and I chose to follow her today. I would get Soos to cover my shift while I was gone. I'd already told him I would take a long break, so my absence wouldn't come as a surprise.

I saw Mabel entering the store and I quickly grabbed a magazine, pretending to be interested in it. She wordlessly passed by, with Dipper sighing as she left. He was hurt by her actions, that much I knew. Maybe I could help him by finding out what she was keeping secret. She opened the door and I held up my magazine to hide my face. Once the door closed, I waited a moment to distance myself. I wouldn't tell anyone what I was doing on my long "break" in case I failed.

It only took about two minutes before I couldn't take it anymore. I told Soos and Dipper I was taking my break and hurried out the door. Not my best idea, considering I must've looked suspicious. But hey, I was trying to find out something that could be really important. I had to take measures. Well, and strategy. Current plan: stay hidden, be silent, and keep Mabel in my sight.

I peeked out the door. Mabel had already set out on her journey to wherever. I had no clue where she was going, but I planned to find out. I slipped out the door, tiptoeing to follow her. She headed deep into the woods before abruptly stopping, and I held my breath. I would be in huge trouble with her if she found out about me. But no, as I soon realized, she hadn't heard me. Rather, she'd stopped to pull something from her pocket. It was a needle. The tube was empty. She pulled something else out of the other pocket. It looked like some kind of small jar, sealant and all. She looked around cautiously, thoroughly scanning the area. I quickly hid behind a large tree, praying that she wouldn't notice me out here.

After a few minutes, she relaxed. She didn't know I was watching her. I peered from behind the tree, making sure as much of my body as possible was concealed behind it. Only my head was exposed. Her back was facing me, but I could see well what she did.

Mabel took the empty needle and plunged it in the jar, poking through the sealant. I noticed that the jar was filled to the brim with some kind of liquid. She pulled the end of the needle and sucked up some of the fluid, until she had about three or four, maybe even five, milligrams in the tube. I hope she wasn't going to inject herself with whatever that was. I tried to believe it was medicine. Maybe it was meant for female issues, and that was why she kept it a secret from everyone else. Maybe she was embarrassed about it.

I took a deep, slow breath and closed my eyes, trying to imagine something else was going on. But I couldn't keep my eyes closed for long. They opened against my own will when I heard a snap. I looked at her. She had her sleeve rolled up, a rubber band right under her shoulder. I wanted to close my eyes again and pretend none of this was happening, that it was just big dream or some kind of misunderstanding. My eyes wouldn't close, and I couldn't look away. Again, my curiosity bested me.

She stuck the needle in her arm and pushed on the end of it. The liquid emptied into her. I didn't know what it was, and that scared me. Now it all made perfect sense. Of course she snuck out to the woods, she didn't want anyone to know she was on drugs. And worse, I didn't know what kind of drug she was using. As much as I wanted to run up to her and drag her back so Dipper could see this, I stayed put. It was an injection, which narrowed it down a little. A big hint would be how she reacted to the stuff. Right now she wasn't doing anything, just standing there, probably waiting for the drug to take effect. Since it would travel straight to her brain, it wouldn't take long to find out what it did to her. Any moment now...

Thirty seconds later, she squatted and laughed. So now she was high, but it still didn't explain what drug she was using. If I could figure that out, I would have an easier time making people believe me, and I would have proof to back me up thanks to that needle mark on her arm. But darn it all I didn't have a video camera, or any camera for that matter. The more proof, the better, and sadly I didn't have much proof.

She laughed again and said, "That's so weird, the same thing happened to me!"

Alright, so...there was nothing in front of her, as far as I could see, so what or who was she talking to? I didn't hear any voices. Although, there was the possibility that I was too far away. Maybe whoever it was was whispering or something. It would explain why I couldn't hear anything. But one thing didn't make sense. See, whatever was talking was obviously being quiet, but Mabel laughed and talked normally and _not_ quietly. It just didn't add up. At first I thought she was laughing because the drug made her happy, but now she was talking and I couldn't figure out why.

She giggled and started petting something. Only problem was, there was nothing to pet. She was just moving her hand over air.

I swiftly ran to a tree closer to her, where I could see what was happening from the side. I should've been noticed, but she seemed to be in her own little world. She didn't hear me, see me, or even acknowledge my presence. But...why?

She picked up the air she'd been petting and held it up high above her head. "Is that better?"

_What_ was she talking to? There was nothing there! It was just an empty space between her hands! There was nothing to talk to! And yet...she acted like the invisible thing was saying something. It wasn't just small talk, she was actually having a conversation.

"I know, right? I keep saying that but he just won't listen," she said. "What _is_ it with him anyway?"

Wait a minute...there _was_ something there, but it was something only she could see. All of this was in her head, she'd conjured up some kind of creature and now she was talking to it. Why didn't I realize it before? It all came together now, she was hallucinating. So the drug she'd taken was some kind of hallucinogen. And apparently it was so powerful that had transported her from reality to her imagination. I could go straight up to her and she wouldn't even see me.

So I did. I came out from behind the tree and walked up to her face. She was wearing a wide smile, obviously happy. And her eyes showed me she was tripping. Her pupils seemed to swallow the rest of her eyes. It was a dead giveaway. At least now I knew why she kept sneaking away, and at least now I knew why she was acting so strange. It broke my heart to see her like this, the once innocent and girly little Mabel transformed into a drug addict. I couldn't even begin to imagine how Dipper would feel about this... He was so happy to know she was okay, so happy to have her back and know she was home. If this broke my heart, it would shatter his. I began to wonder if I should tell him, or anyone for that matter. I didn't want him to find out that his twin sister, who he'd been so determined to find after five long years, was addicted to drugs.

* * *

**(Mabel's POV)**

Lefty smiled at me, his black fur soft and smooth as I held him up to the sun.

"This feels great, Mabel!" he said in his goofy voice. "Thanks a ton!"

I grinned. "Aw, you're welcome. It's nothing really, you can't help it if you're cold." I looked to my side to find some kind of bird and cat mix. It looked like a cat, only with a beak and feathered wings. It kept opening its beak, speaking some kind of weird language. "What's it saying?"

Lefty somehow was no longer Lefty. Instead I found myself holding air, and on the ground was a tiny bear.

"I speak cat-bird," it said.

"Think you could translate?" I asked it.

It nodded. "Of course, milady. It's saying hello."

Suddenly everything was gone, and I found myself being sucked into a giant me. I phased right through my larger self and ended up floating around in a pink bubble. That bubble turned into bubblegum and popped. I fell into a big bouncy house. I bounced and bounced, and boy was it fun! This bouncy house was extra bouncy, full of air. I turned around in midair to find Dipper bouncing with me.

"Hey, isn't this fun?" I said, laughing.

"Yeah, it is!" he answered, laughing just as hard.

* * *

**(Wendy's POV)**

I could hardly believe my eyes. Another reason she chose to come to the woods: she did crazy stuff when she got high. I kept having to move out of her way as she hopped all around. I was surprised to see she wasn't bumping into trees or tripping over roots, especially considering she couldn't see her real surroundings. Maybe she thought she was jumping rope or something, or maybe she thought she was a rabbit. It was truly impossible for me to tell. I couldn't stand to see her like this, so confused and messed up from drug abuse, but I knew it was best if I stayed with her to make sure she didn't hurt herself, at least until she stopped hallucinating.

Mabel had made this decision, but Dipper didn't know. He would be crushed if he found out about it. He never gave up on his sister, even through the hardest of times when everyone in Gravity Falls kept telling him she was dead. So seeing her like this would be too much for him. Sure he was strong, but...this was far beyond his strength. I didn't know how to tell him, and worse, I didn't know how he would react. He might not take it so well, he might lash out at me. Maybe he would deny anything I said. That was just the way he was. He wanted to believe Mabel had come back healthy and mentally stable. But now, with the way she kept acting around everyone...it was only a matter of time before he found out his "little sister", as he'd taken to calling her, was on drugs and was getting high every day.

He was so protective of her. He wanted to look out for her and be there when she needed him. The problem was, she needed him now more than ever. Dipper was her brother, they'd been together since birth and had been raised together. They used to be inseparable until Mabel had run off only to get hooked on drugs. Mabel was his weak spot. I didn't know if I had it in me to tell the poor thing...

**A/N**

**Uh...okay, so this wasn't as random as I thought it was going to be. So...yeah...sorry about that. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway.**


	5. Chapter 5

~Chapter 5~

**(Wendy's POV)**

It had been several weeks since I first saw Mabel on a high. I wanted to tell Dipper, he deserved to know. But...I couldn't. His very soul would melt out of his body if he knew. Mabel still didn't know I was watching her. I had this habit of conveniently taking a break when she left. Sometimes I succeeded in following her, and other times she slipped away. She seemed to know the woods pretty well, but I still hadn't gotten used to them. They say you can use trees as landmarks. Yeah, well, to me each tree looked the same. When I lost Mabel, I never strayed too far into the woods, which made it all the more difficult to find her. I never knew her to be sneaky, but I was proven horribly wrong.

I still didn't know what drug she was using. After having used it, she always put the needle and jar back into her pockets. I was too afraid to take them out while she was busy chasing after something or yammering on with an imaginary character. At one point or another, though, she always fell down and kind of rolled around a little bit, much like a dying insect. I could tell she was still hallucinating because she kept mumbling. After awhile, I realized this meant she was starting to come down, and the effects of the drug were wearing off. She was so messed up when she was on that stuff that she was stuck in her own head, and until that drug wore off, she had to stay there. But the terrible truth was, she liked it. It had to be the only reason she kept poking that needle through her skin. I could only wonder where she kept getting her hands on it.

Telling Dipper was the right thing to do, but it was also the hardest thing to do. I would much rather have him come to a conclusion than tell him straight up.

But how could I get him to guess that his own sister was on drugs? I had no proof, I couldn't bring myself to tell him, and to top that, he would most likely deny what was really happening. I could ask him to come with me and follow Mabel so he could see for himself what was going on, but if she happened to disappear while he was there, chances were he'd never believe me again. I knew he wanted to think his sister was as innocent and perky as she was five years ago, but she had changed now, and something told me he wouldn't want to accept that.

I sighed heavily as I watched her duck close to the ground, pick something up, and throw it. She was always smiling when she was like this. Maybe it was the drug, but she kept getting lost in her hallucinations. It was worse than that time she ate too much Smile Dip. There was a reason they banned that stuff from America, yet she tried it anyway. Maybe it was the same case here, where she'd tried the drug once, and decided to get more and more, until she finally got like this.

I didn't really want to watch her keep doing this to herself, but I knew it was for the best. She could really hurt herself if she chose to...I don't know, climb up a tree and run off one of the braches or something. The girl did crazy stuff, so it wouldn't come as a surprise if she did something stupid. Well, I guess it would be a little warped both ways. In Mabel's eyes, everything was safe and fun and carefree, but reality was exactly the opposite. I understood more than anyone about wanting to escape reality and go to a place where I could relax and have fun instead of work all day. But this...this was absurd, she'd taken this thing way too far. She'd constructed an entire world, all in her head! And now that she'd found a way to go there, she wouldn't want to return to real life...which was why she continued drugging herself up.

* * *

**(Dipper's POV)**

Weeks passed. Mabel was still secretive and changed the subject whenever anyone asked her what was going on. I already knew she was hiding something from me, from everyone actually. But surely there must be a good reason behind it. She was sneaking off every day, but I was sure she had a reason for it. I just didn't know that reason yet. I assumed she might've gone through something traumatizing in the five years she'd been gone, and therefore wasn't willing to tell anyone about it. Maybe it hurt to talk about it, maybe it was just that bad.

It tore me apart to think something that bad happened to Mabel, and I wasn't there to protect her from whatever it was. It could've been anything, even rape! Of course she wouldn't want to talk about that, no girl would.

I sighed, wiping away tears that were forming on the edges of my eyes. Why couldn't I have been there for her? I was her brother, it was my job to look out for her. All I wanted was for her to be safe, but she'd obviously gone through something. And what do you know, her _twin brother_ wasn't there. Every day she left, probably to go think about things. When she came back she was always exhausted. I never followed her, I never tried to find out where she went. I understood that she wanted privacy. I could respect that, it was the very least I could do after failing her.

I heard the door to the Mystery Shack open, and looked up to find Wendy. Whenever Wendy came back, Mabel was sure to follow sooner or later. I simply kept sweeping, trying not to think about all the horrible things Mabel might've gone through. I tried my best to focus on looking for piles of dirt or dust, or maybe bits and pieces of beads or rubber bands and other things of that sort. Working had become my distraction, a little something to help take my mind off Mabel. I didn't hesitate to cover Wendy's shift whenever she went out, and if Soos needed to take a break, I would cover him too. Anything that needed to be done around the Mystery Shack, I did. I wasn't glad to do this stuff, nor was I happy to work overtime. I only wanted something to keep me busy and distracted. I never really had a moment of inactivity, I just wanted to keep working. The only real "break" I had was lunch, and I always wolfed it down quickly so I could get straight back to work. Uncle Stan had pressed me time after time to rest for just a little bit. I refused to stop. I liked keeping myself so busy, my mind almost successfully distancing itself from Mabel.

But I could never manage to completely get her out of my head.

I concentrated on mopping each and every wooden floor board until it was spotless. I put signs up here and there telling customers that the floor was wet and slippery. With me becoming a workaholic, things around the Mystery Shack got done. Wendy and Soos had no need to come back here every day to work. I always got things done for them. No dust bunny, soda spill, or piece of trash was safe from sanitation. The bathrooms were always clean, and thanks to me, they had become the cleanest bathrooms in all of Gravity Falls. And it was no exaggeration; half the people in the store usually came in just to use the bathroom. The shelves were well-stocked, the merchandise aligned perfectly with the labels. The fan on the ceiling was kept dust-free, meaning no one had to worry about particles swirling around. Every piece of ceramic, glass, and metal was shining with beauty. Muddy shoes weren't a problem anymore. The floors were kept very tidy. Food and drinks were now allowed in the shop, which attracted more customers. The grass outside was mowed, the shrubs and bushes trimmed. Any weeds that grew were picked and burned. Everything was perfect.

Except for Mabel.

At that instant, I heard the door open and looked up from my work, this time seeing my sister. I propped the mop up between a shelf and the wall and walked over to her. I noticed Wendy was looking at me, no real expression on her face. Ignoring it, I smiled at Mabel.

"Hey, welcome back," I said.

She grunted and walked past me. Her head hung slightly, her arms were limp, her feet were dragging, and her eyes were drooping. Overall, she showed every sign of exhaustion. I didn't know why she came back like this every afternoon. What did she do all day to make herself just that weary? I'd already asked myself that about a hundred times but I still couldn't come up with an answer. Sometimes I thought she might be working out but that didn't make any sense. I mean, why would she be working out in secret?

I watched her round the corner and knew she was going to our room in the attic. I waited until she was gone before turning to Wendy.

"You've been following her haven't you?" I said, more of a statement than a question.

She seemed to perk up. "Huh?"

I frowned and looked at the floor, sweeping one foot across it just to take the nervous edge away. "I know something's wrong with her."

"Dipper..." Her voice trailed off, as if she didn't know what to say.

"I know she's doing something when she sneaks out," I continued. "I don't know what it is, but you do."

She sharply inhaled, realizing what I was implying. "I...I don't..."

I looked up at her, unshed tears heavy in my eyes as I choked out, "Wendy, what's wrong with my sister?"

* * *

**(Wendy's POV)**

I couldn't believe it. The time had finally come, and I had nothing to say. Seeing Dipper like this now, so desperate... He was hurting bad. I wanted to tell him, I really did. It was just...how could I? How was I supposed to tell someone like Dipper that his _twin sister_ was drugging herself up every day? And that I'd known about it for awhile now? I really didn't have it in me to break him like that. But he deserved to know. Mabel might as well be his other half. He thought the world of her...

He had finally admitted that he knew something was wrong. He was looking to me for answers. He knew the timing of my breaks was no coincidence. All the poor thing wanted was to know what was wrong. He only wanted to help Mabel, to make her feel better. It was a brother's job to do that. My brothers did when I was feeling down, and I loved them to death. I couldn't imagine what it must be like for a twin. I couldn't muster the courage to tell him though... I just couldn't hurt him more than he already was... It was too cruel...

I felt myself getting choked up, not knowing how to respond. I had to tell him, but at the same time I couldn't tell him. His heart would _shatter_ if he knew the truth. I didn't want to be responsible for that kind of pain. Yeah, maybe that would seem selfish, but how would you tell someone their brother or sister was on drugs? It wouldn't be easy, especially if they had gone through everything Dipper had.

"Mabel has problems, Dipper," I whispered. Just saying that much took a good amount of courage, and I couldn't even bring myself to tell him what those problems were.

He just kept looking at me, pressuring me to give him more information. He wasn't going to settle for that measly crap. He already knew she had problems, he wanted to know what they were. He knew I had the answers.

I shook my head, unable to believe I was doing this. I pulled out a piece of register paper and a spare pen I always kept on me, and I began writing down what I knew. It would be easier to tell him this way instead of looking at his anguished face and telling him, as he's about to have a breakdown, that his own sister was sticking a needle in her skin day after day.

The hardest part was motioning for him to come over so I could hand him that piece of paper. I refused to look at his face while he read it.


	6. Chapter 6

~Chapter 6~

**(Dipper's POV)**

My hands shook as I held the small slip of paper. In front of my eyes was the answer to the question I had been asking myself since Mabel first woke up in Gravity Falls, right after she fell down the ladder and ran out of the shack. She told me she was fine, she said nothing was wrong. This note proved otherwise. This note proved something I wish wasn't true. I hoped this was a dream, some kind of sick dream that my subconscience conjured up to lay out one of the many possibilities. I had to run a thumb over the note to know for sure whether this was real or not. I didn't need legible handwriting to read these awful words.

_"Dipper, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you this sooner, and I'm so sorry I had to tell you this through a piece of paper, but I couldn't bring myself to say this to your face. And before you say I'm lying, I want you to know you were right. I have been spying on Mabel. I can't tell you how sorry I am to say this. If you don't believe it at first, that's fine, but this is the truth, and you deserve to know what's wrong with your sister. She's on drugs."_

I didn't want to believe it. That wasn't the Mabel I knew... She wouldn't have ever even _thought_ of drugs! It was preposterous! Insane! Nuts! It couldn't be real! There was just no way! This wasn't Mabel!

Guys were supposed to be strong, but there was nothing more agonizing than finding out your sister was a drug addict.

* * *

**(Wendy's POV)**

I was supposed to be strong, but there was nothing more agonizing than seeing the person who held Mabel most dear to his heart crumble to the floor, still clenching the little note I'd given him. I was expecting him to get angry and be in pure denial. I thought for sure he was going to say I was lying, or maybe even blame me for this. But no...he only stayed on the floor, sobbing for his sister and crying out, "Why?!" It was the most painful thing I had ever seen in my life. I could only get down on my knees and put a hand on his back.

This was going to be a very rough day for Dipper.

* * *

**(Mabel's POV)**

I heard something going on downstairs, loud enough to bring me from my trance. I didn't know what it was, but my curiosity just wasn't up for finding out right now. I was still coming down. The Land of Mabel hadn't completely worn off yet. I could enter it again if I wanted, but not here. They would hear me and my secret would be revealed. Besides, I needed to rest right now. My body didn't want to move. So there I sat, slumped against the wall, my knees held up against my chest. I put my forehead down, letting my head take a break and rest on my knees. I felt so dizzy as I let myself drift off into thought again. Maybe if I focused hard enough, I could pretend I was back in the Land of Mabel. It was worth a shot.

I lifted my head when I heard someone crying, "Why?!" Who knows what that was all about? I still didn't want to move. I still didn't want to find out. More tremors rattled my body. Other than the ruckus going on downstairs, the attic was very quiet. I could hear my heart beating, drumming against my chest like it always did. I could tell my pupils weren't yet normal-sized. They were probably getting there, but just in case, I would stay holed up in here until I felt comfortable coming out. My eyes would be a dead giveaway.

I wiped a little sweat from my forehead. I was always sweating. It helped greatly that Dipper thought it was from exhaustion. It was really the drug, but as long as he didn't know that...

I yawned. My body still didn't want to move. I didn't understand why. While it was true that I felt tired when the drug was wearing off, I was usually able to move my arms. This time they just wouldn't listen to me. I couldn't move them. It was almost like I was paralyzed.

I mentally slapped myself for thinking that. It wasn't paralysis, it was just a lack of willpower. There was a difference.

I heard frantic knocks on the door, like someone was ready to burst in and run around in a panic.

"MABEL!" Dipper screamed.

My jaw dropped and my eyes grew big. Dipper always stayed in the store, he was always working. He never came up here, he simply let me be. As he continued to scream my name, still banging on the door, I looked up. There was no way he knew my secret. No one could've known. Nobody ever saw me out in the woods, and I was careful to make sure I could balance properly before coming back. I was just being paranoid again... It was just the drug, and nothing more. There had to be a different reason. What if someone was hurt? I wasn't some emotionless freak, but I couldn't come out yet. My pupils were still too big, I just knew they were. And if someone had to go to the hospital, I would have to follow them there. Once I entered a hospital, the doctors would know immediately. They would take away the Land of Mabel... I couldn't let that happen. After I ran away, I realized how little I had. In fact, I didn't have anything! But I had refused to go back to a place where nobody would care whether I was gone or not, where nobody would even notice if I was gone or not. Plus, I didn't want to go back to being ripped to shreds by that evil witch known as Pacifica. It had been too much to handle; I couldn't take it anymore. So I gave up and ran away.

My body didn't always shake like it did now. When I first tried acid, I used blotter paper. They weren't very large doses. It took about thirty minutes to kick in, and when it did, I had never felt better. After awhile, though, I began to realize that the dosage was too small. Mild hallucinations just weren't enough. I needed more. I kept raising the bar on myself so much that eventually I couldn't fit all that paper under my tongue. I got a needle, purchased a jar from my dealer, and tried injection. It worked, taking only a few second to kick in, but that was when my body started shaking uncontrollably. Even with all that acid in my body, it still wasn't enough. I kept going up. I was now taking thousands of doses. I was okay with that though, because with each hit I was able to enter my dreamland. Unlike in Gravity Falls, unlike in reality, everything in the Land of Mabel was perfect. I was always happy there. Nothing ever went wrong. It was my own little fantasy world.

So when I had nothing, the Land of Mabel rose up and gave me something.

* * *

**(Dipper's POV)**

Wendy came up to me and for a moment, I stopped screaming Mabel's name. She held out her hand, and in her palm was the key. Mabel had locked the door, but she couldn't keep me out forever. Wendy made sure of that.

I quickly snatched up the key and shoved it into the lock, turning on it and pulling on it and getting frustrated that the door wasn't opening. Wendy gently pushed me aside and unlocked the door for me.

A million thoughts ran through my head as I prepared to run into the room and see what Mabel looked like when she crashed. I needed to know what happened. I needed to know that the drug she was using wasn't as severe as I was thinking. I wanted to hug her and hold her forever, that way she wouldn't need drugs to make her happy. I wanted her to know I would always be there for her no matter what the situation. I would stay by her this time. I wouldn't let her down. I wouldn't make the same mistake twice. I loved Mabel, and I wanted her to know that.

I almost hesitated, wondering what I would see in that room. I wondered if she was using the drug right now, or if she was already stoned. What kind of drug was she using? Was she using more than one? Why did she even try it in the first place? Why did she keep using it? I needed answers to these questions. This time Wendy couldn't provide them, but Mabel could tell me everything. Now that I knew what was wrong, she would _have_ to tell me. Maybe it would take awhile, maybe it would take months! But I needed to know what happened on the night she left. I needed to know why she was doing this.

Wendy refused to look in the room. I didn't know if it was because she was too afraid to look, or if she was respecting the fact that I should be the first to see.

I dashed into the room.

I was expecting to something bad. I was mentally trying to prepared myself to be expecting the worst. It was just that...when I got in that room and saw Mabel, my heart broke all over again. She was sitting there curled up in the corner, head down, arms splayed out, knees against her chest. Her body trembled. I finally understood why she kept shaking like that. At first I ignored it, passing it off as something else. But then she kept it up, and I had to wonder what was causing it. This scene proved Wendy was right. I still didn't want to believe it, but she really was on drugs. And now my little sister was sitting on the floor shaking like a leaf.

I ran up to her, dropped to my knees, and wrapped my arms around her. I didn't know why she started or when she started, but right now I didn't care. I only wanted to hold her and make her feel safe. Her big brother was here for her this time, and he intended to make things right.

"I'm so sorry, Mabel..." I whispered. "I'll make this better, I promise."

* * *

**(Mabel's POV)**

I heard him come in. I felt him put his arms around me. He didn't sound angry. I thought he would be furious and start shouting things like, "WHAT IS _WRONG_ WITH YOU?!" There was a possibility that he didn't know about the drugs yet, but...it was kind of obvious now. What was he sorry for? He didn't do anything wrong. Why wasn't he calling me stupid for running off? Or an idiot for starting drugs?

As he rubbed my back and continued to hold me, I noticed how infirm my body was compared to his. I didn't often feel other people, with their bodies working just fine. Most of the time I only felt my body, which was clearly dysfunctional. I wanted to let him know it was fine, that I would be okay, but how? My body refused to move, and my eyes wouldn't so much as open anymore. Even my brain was starting to shut down. I could feel myself slipping away as the seconds passed. Eventually I gave in and stopped trying to stay awake. I was too dizzy. Everything was going dark. I couldn't feel or hear Dipper anymore...

* * *

**(Dipper's POV)**

I felt Mabel's knees slump down to the side, away from her chest. Her body turned slightly and her weight caused her to topple over. I tried not to panic. I told myself that I needed to remember this was probably normal for her. It was probably the aftereffect of the drugs. She used them every day, so that was probably a lot of toxins in her body.

Again, I _tried_ not to panic. But the thought of what the drugs might be doing to her body made me cringe. I could picture her heart beating irregularly, suffering from the effects of the drugs. Her blood pressure might be unnaturally high or low. Her temperature could be completely messed up. And what about her brain? All drugs affected the brain one way or another. I didn't know what she was on. I didn't know what it was doing to her brain. It scared me. Her brain could've developed something like a concussion. Maybe she had a form of amnesia that wasn't very clear yet. Maybe she had been losing thousands of neurons a day. Parts of her body could already be deteriorating.

At that thought, I lifted her head and checked her pulse. It was fast. I noticed she was sweating, probably another side effect of the drug. Even unconscious, tremors wracked her body. Lifting her head further, I gently put a thumb over one of her eyes and lifted her eyelid. My throat tightened. Her pupil had swallowed her entire eye. Now there was nothing there but an eerie black abyss. Her eyes seemed lifeless and stone cold. The way the trees danced around in the afternoon wind, projecting frightening shadows onto her face...it was overwhelming. It didn't even feel like I was looking at a human being, it felt like I was looking at a doll. An old, abandoned doll.

I wondered if that was all she was now.

**A/N**

**I just wanted to put in a little heads-up for you all. I've found a Gravity Falls story called "Just Like A Purple Sky", written by FallerNingaCat4ever. This story has an amazing plot, and the idea is ORIGINAL for once! :) I strongly encourage you all to check it out when you have the time.**

**_*If you think you have a good story, please tell me so I can read it. :)_**


	7. Chapter 7

~Chapter 7~

**(Mabel's POV)**

I popped open one eye. Total darkness greeted me. It was weird...I thought I heard Dipper calling my name. I thought I felt him hug me. Maybe it had been a dream. I was in my bed, laying down with the covers over me. I could've drifted off. Maybe that was it. Yeah...maybe. Or it was real and I had every reason to freak out right now. If anyone knew about what they would consider my "problem", then I could kiss the Land of Mabel goodbye. I couldn't let them take away my sanctuary!

"Mabel?" I heard someone whisper. "Are you awake?"

I stayed still and silent. It sounded like Dipper but that was just a dream, right? It couldn't be him.

"Mabel, are you awake?" the voice asked again, this time a little louder.

I tried to focus in on any one object in an effort to fight my way through this darkness to see who it was. I just really hoped it wasn't Dipper...

I felt someone lightly tough my shoulder. Please don't be Dipper, please don't be Dipper...

"Mabel, are you feeling better?"

It was Dipper. Of course it was. Hopefully he didn't know. I remembered falling asleep, but that was about it. He sat beside me and put one arm around me. Deep down I knew he'd found out the truth. Why was he being so nice to me now? He'd finally discovered I was on drugs. If anything, he should be furious and not wanting to talk to me. But...he wasn't. Instead, he pulled me closer and turned on the little lamp. I was afraid to look at his face. I didn't want to chance seeing disappointment in his eyes. He didn't tell me to look up. He didn't insult me. All he'd done was ask me if I was feeling better. His voice wasn't rough when he said that. It had been soft, almost comforting. I was careful though. I didn't want to get too comfortable around him only to risk getting hurt.

He reached around me, took a glass of water from the nightstand that rested between our beds, and held it up to me. I took it and sipped on it for awhile. He didn't say anything during that time. I still couldn't figure out why. Dipper was the sort of person who wanted to know everything. At least, that was the Dipper I remembered. Five years was more than enough time to change a person. I still refused to look up at him. With the Land of Mabel I really shouldn't have cared what anyone else thought about me, but Dipper was my brother. He was different. And technically he was my little brother. I was older than him. Although to be honest, he had grown since I'd run away. I guess he wasn't my _little_ brother anymore.

Part of me wondered why I left Gravity Falls in the first place. I shook it off though. I hadn't been happy here. I'd snapped, and ended up leaving everything behind. All my scrapbooks were probably still on their proper shelves. Dusty magazines were still neatly stacked in one corner of the room. Dipper hadn't touched any of my things. He still hadn't touched them, even after I'd returned.

"Are you feeling any better?" he repeated, a few minutes after I'd finished drinking.

I nodded, but kept my head down. I thought about my eyes for a second. Had he seen them? Had my pupils shrunk back their normal size yet? I could only hope so. It didn't seem like Dipper was going to let me go anytime soon. It was a shame because after all this, I could really use a hit. I couldn't do it front of Dipper. Actually I couldn't do it at all. He had his arm around me. If I were to pull out my needle and jar, he would have no trouble wrestling them away from me. He wasn't twelve anymore, and he'd grown much stronger than me.

"Do you want anything to eat?" he asked.

I shook my head. I was rarely hungry. It was yet another side effect of the drug. I still ate, just not as much as a normal person.

I noticed my body was still shaking. Not as much as it was before, but still shaking. If Dipper found out about my drug problem, he would want to "help me". I didn't want help. I didn't need help. It was the same as daydreaming, except much more powerful. There was nothing wrong with daydreaming. Why would there be anything wrong with a drug that tapped into your imagination and laid it out in front of you? Yeah, I got confused sometimes during the day, even after the drug had worn off. So what? It was a small price to pay.

"Do you want another drink?" he asked.

I shook my head again. My mouth would just dry up anyway. It always did. It was annoying but...it was what it was.

"Is something wrong? You're pretty quiet," he said.

I shook my head. I didn't really want to talk right now. I was on drugs. What would Dipper think of that? He would probably look down on me for the rest of my life. He would tell everyone else and the whole town would shun me. I would be shamed, frowned upon. I would become the girl who didn't deserve to live. I would be seen as that disgusting _thing_ in town. Everyone would sneer at me and turn their backs to me. They would talk about me behind my back, spread rumors that weren't true. I could imagine them thinking I killed someone. And Dipper would believe them. And Gruncle Stan would be so disappointed in me, he might even kick me out. No customers would ever come in the Mystery Shack if I was around. I would be all but isolated from the rest of the world. No one would want me.

"Mabel, is everything okay?" he asked.

I nodded.

"I know something's bothering you. You can tell me."

I couldn't tell him. He would hate me. I didn't want my own brother to hate me. Besides, I'd already run away from town, away from him. He probably already thought less of me for that. Maybe he already knew about the drugs, but I wasn't going to take that chance. I wasn't going to tell him straight up. I couldn't do it, I could bring myself to do it. Just because he was my twin brother didn't mean he had to know about this. I didn't have to tell him. I didn't want to tell him. I wouldn't tell him.

"Please, Mabel," he pleaded. "I want to know what's wrong."

"I'm fine," I replied. He wanted an answer, now he got one.

"Mabel," he said, "I'm your brother. And more than that, I'm your _twin_. I can sense when something's up. I already know something's wrong. Just tell me. Maybe I can help."

I didn't want to look at him, but he moved his head level with mine and tried to get me to look into his eyes. I wouldn't.

"Nothing's wrong," I said.

I'd started drugs, and now I didn't want to stop. It was too late. He couldn't help me. Nobody could.

* * *

**(Dipper's POV)**

I was trying to hint at her that I already knew what was going on, but she wouldn't pick up on it. I didn't want to tell her up front. Now I knew how Wendy felt. It was hard for her to tell me because she didn't know how to. I wanted her to tell me. Maybe she didn't know how to tell me either. Maybe she was stuck with the same problem Wendy had. I didn't want to pressure her, but I really wanted her to tell me. At least then she would be okay with me knowing, unlike right now.

* * *

**(Mabel's POV)**

I yawned. I shouldn't have been feeling tired. The drug made me restless, that was one of the side effects. On top of that, I'd just woken up. It didn't make any sense. Something wasn't right. I usually felt dizzy when I was just coming down and trying to pick myself up off the ground. Now I had these weird spells whether I was on or off the drug. I usually felt tired _only_ when I crashed; after that, it was practically impossible to sleep. Now I was actually passing out. And I had never been unable to move before, unlike the last time I was awake. Something was wrong, I just didn't know what.

I tried to shrug the thought off. I was probably just overreacting. It was probably nothing. I was probably looking too much into it.

I looked up at Dipper. He wasn't looking straight at me anymore. Rather, he was looking off to the side, appearing to be deep in thought. I was glad my eyes hadn't met his. Well, no, that wasn't phrased right. I was glad _his_ eyes hadn't met _mine_.

* * *

**(Dipper's POV)**

"Dipper," she said, "you're my brother, right?"

I blinked and looked at her, hardly understanding the question. Maybe for normal siblings it was okay, but we were twins. She turned her head again, refusing to let me see her face. I wondered if she might be holding back tears.

I smiled weakly, hoping I would be prepared to take it if she chose to tell me about her drug problem. "Last time I checked."

"And I can talk to you about anything, right?"

"Of course."

"Would you hate me if I did something..." She took a deep breath, pausing for a minute before continuing. "Something that..." She trailed off again, this time fumbling around for the right words. "...that you didn't particularly _like_?"

I frowned. I couldn't hate her. She was my sister, I loved her to death. I hadn't been searching for her for the past five years for nothing. Even when everyone kept telling me she was dead, even when everyone pitied me because they thought I was in denial over the loss of my sister, I kept pushing forward. I kept looking for her even when everyone else had stopped. I wouldn't ever give up on her. I didn't then, and I wouldn't now.

I pulled her a little closer, careful not to squish her. "No, Mabel, I could never hate you."

I heard her swallow. "Even if was something really bad?"

I wrapped my other arm around her. She refused to hug me back. "You're my sister. And I'll always love you, no matter what."

I released her when I felt her move around. She rolled up the sleeve on her arm opposite of me. I heard little whines, the kind that indicated she was crying and trying to hide it. She slowly move her arm toward me, until the top side of her elbow was right in front of my chest. I was horrified.

Her voice quivered as she spoke. "Even if I did this?"

There was a patch of her skin that was badly bruised. Red was flecked across blue and purple. I knew immediately that they were the needle marks. I was thinking Wendy was talking about pills or something, I didn't know Mabel was _injecting_ herself every day. Injection could be worse than a pill. It traveled directly to the brain, with absolutely no stops. A pill had to get past the stomach, then the liver and kidneys, and finally it had to travel to the brain by working its way into the bloodstream. To top that, the site of the injection could get infected. Of all the methods of drug use, why did it have to be by a needle?

She pulled her arm back and sheathed it with her sleeve. "Dipper?"

"Yeah...?" I breathed.

* * *

**(Mabel's POV)**

I couldn't believe I'd actually told him. He would hate me for sure now. He said he never would, but let's face it, what kind of brother wanted a sister who did drugs? Why did I tell him, why did I have to be so stupid as to tell the one person I _didn't_ want to know? He wasn't even answering me now! Who's to say he would ever talk to me again? Anyone else was a different story, but I didn't want Dipper to be disappointed in me. Now he was and there was nothing I could do about it. I hadn't made him promise not to tell. I should've...but he would probably spread the word anyway. He was going to spread the word now. It wasn't like there was something holding him back. He had no restrictions.

This only served to give me one more reason to permanently leave Gravity Falls. I wanted to run away again and let everyone return to their normal lives. But...I couldn't. For five years, Dipper had no idea where I was or what happened to me. He had probably been worrying all that time. I couldn't leave him again, he would be crushed. But I also didn't want to face him ever again.


	8. Chapter 8

~Chapter 8~

**(Mabel's POV)**

I chose not to leave that night. Dipper hadn't so much as blinked since I showed him my arm. It was a mistake I truly regretted making. He hadn't talked to me since then either. He only sat on his bed and looked at the floor. I, on the other hand, went outside. It was nighttime, and cold, but I didn't know what else to do. I couldn't bear to show my face in the Mystery Shack again, but I couldn't bear to stab Dipper in the back by running away. I figured staying outside was the best thing for everyone right now. I didn't have my own place, nor did I have any money. Turns out I had Waddles though. He had followed me deep into the forest. It seemed he recognized my scent or my looks, or whatever it was he saw in me. Waddles had a high chance of being my only companion from here on out. And he was, in fact, a very loyal pig. He wouldn't leave my side and sat down with me as I crumpled up a handful of dead leaves. He didn't make a sound.

I sighed and dropped the cluster of leaves I was holding. I shouldn't have let Dipper know. I wish I could go back in time and change that. He shouldn't have seen my arm, I shouldn't have let him. I could hardly believe I had done something so stupid just because it was the spur of the moment! Talking about it didn't help in this matter. It just made it worse. I couldn't be around Dipper or anyone else, but I couldn't leave Gravity Falls. I would have to stay out here until I could find some abandoned house to shelter in. And it wouldn't be too hard. There was always something going on around this creepy town. Abandoned houses were nothing and probably very common. Waddles could come live with me. I could talk to him and pretend he was talking back.

He grunted and buried his nose in the leaves, shuffling around for a moment before pulling his head back up. Maybe that was some strange form of pig body language.

"It's too late to go back, isn't it?" I said.

I didn't know whether I was speaking to myself or to Waddles. It really didn't matter. I was all alone in the deepest parts of the forest. Only I knew these kinds of landscapes. I used the trees, rocks, and roots as landmarks to find my away around. It was night though, and I didn't know where I was at the moment. I could drug myself up again if I wanted. I had my needle and jar with me. Nobody would find me. Nobody would hear me.

I felt something inside me rise as I thought of myself out here, completely alone. I could scream and cry all I wanted, but nobody would know. That "nobody" word was like a brick wall that I couldn't stop banging my head against. It kept hitting me, kept reminding me that I was different now. I wasn't like everyone else anymore. It felt like I was nothing more than an old puppet that had been left on its shelf and forgotten about. My strings were never pulled. Nothing was there to make my hands move up and down.

I quickly pulled out my needle and jar, determined to get this over with. I hated feeling this way. I hated it!

Snapping a rubber band around my upper arm, I sucked up some of the fluid with my needle. Who cared if it was nighttime? No one would know. I was deep in the forest. People would get lost. They would never find me. I could die out here and they wouldn't know.

I held out my arm and stuck myself with the needle. It felt like someone was stabbing me with a knife, the way my arm was so bruised. It would go away soon. Everything would be happy and better soon.

I heard panting and yanked the needle out, quickly capping my needle. I stuffed it and my jar into my sweater pocket. I was shocked to find a beam of light shining in my direction. It was undoubtedly a flashlight. The crunching leaves grew louder and clearer.

"Mabel! Stop!" Dipper cried out breathlessly.

In that moment I felt like a frightened rabbit—my first instinct was to run. I didn't fight that instinct. In a minute I would being seeing something not of this world. My mind would give in to strange hallucinations and I wouldn't be in reality anymore. I didn't want Dipper to see any more than he already had. He had seen too much, I couldn't allow him to see me this way! I had a very limited time to get away before the Land of Mabel set in.

He was keeping pace with me though. I knew because I heard his voice shouting, "Don't do this!"

Too late.

I kept running, kept trying to escape him. Wasn't it enough for him to have already seen my arm and possibly my eyes? What more did he want? The trees above me seemed to ask the same question. The wind blew their leaves around, making them fall around me. It was like they were trying to help me, trying to shroud me from Dipper's sight. Their branches eerily hung over one another. They blocked the faint light provided by the bare sliver of a moon. The only sound I heard were the leaves under my feet and Dipper's. Waddles had chosen not to get in on the chase. I was pretty sure he simply sat there, unmoving.

I almost tripped when I saw something sparkle in between one of the branches of the trees. Upon closer inspection, it seemed to be a lump of vanilla ice cream. The Land of Mabel was coming on. Fast. I kept running, kept pushing forward. I hadn't had anything to eat recently, and what I did have was practically nothing. I didn't have much energy to begin with, and I was using up what little I had surprisingly quickly. I couldn't keep going on like this. I was already skinny, I had little to no fat to burn. Most girls would kill to have no fat, but the truth was, it was essential to keep up energy when you needed it. And I didn't have any!

I stopped. What I saw in my peripheral vision...it couldn't be... But it was. I saw a slim shadow move across the tree trunks. It looked like a thick stick with a bulge on top of it. I knew that shadow... It was the shadow of a killer, a horrendous nightmare of a man. I called him the Shadow Man, because I could never clearly see his face. That scared me. Sometimes I would see him hiding behind a tree, stalking me. Hunting me. He was black, but not in an African-American kind of way. He was literally as black as the night sky itself.

I stayed completely still. My body automatically stiffened and I stopped breathing. When the Shadow Man came, he was always after me.

"Dipper...!" I squeaked.

Suddenly I didn't mind my brother seeing me this way. I needed him this time. I wanted him to be beside me for some reason. Maybe it was just that sibling comfort, but I really needed him. Where was he? He was right behind me a second ago!

I heard heavy breathing a little ways off, not too far beside me. It was rugged, but it definitely wasn't the kind of panting that marked Dipper's presence. Only the Shadow Man would be able to breathe like that. He was right here. He was watching me. He knew where I was. What was he planning? What was he going to do with me?!

"Dipper!" I screamed.

The Shadow Man slowly moved from behind a tree and made his way toward me. I was frozen, paralyzed with fear. I kept telling my body to _move!_ He was getting closer and I couldn't run! I couldn't do anything but stand there! I had to get away! He had a knife! He had a butcher knife!

I could feel him grinning, knowing he had me trapped. I might as well have been an animal in a cage at this point. No matter where I went, he always ended up finding me.

As he came nearer, my legs finally decided to obey me and I ran faster than ever before. I knew I was screaming something, but I wasn't paying attention to what it was. I had bigger problems to deal with right now. You know...like a man with a butcher knife following you everywhere. Those little everyday problems that pester you until they kill you. No big deal.

As I approached a tree with a large trunk, he hurled his knife at me. I ducked just in time. It hit the bark and stuck there. I found myself at a loss of breath. Right in front of me was the butcher knife he'd been carrying.

"He's going to kill me..." I breathed slowly.

Before I knew what was happening, I was trapped against that very same tree. He had both his arms stretched out around me. I couldn't escape.

"DIPPER!" I screeched as the Shadow Man dislodged the knife from the tree.

I dropped down and huddled up into a fetal position, leaning against the tree for support. I kept my head down, certain of a painfully slow and bloody death. I whimpered in fear as I felt the blade run smoothly over my neck.

* * *

**(Dipper's POV)**

"Mabel, snap out of it!" I yelled, grabbing her shoulders and violently shaking her.

She was stiff as a board and wouldn't unravel herself from the ball she'd curled up in. I couldn't pry her hands away from her head, where they seemed to protect her ears. Her breath was shaky and uneven, her heart rate faster than ever. She kept making tiny noises, indications that she was scared. Well, more like petrified. For some reason she had been calling out to me nonstop even though I was already there. Right in front of her, in fact. It was like she couldn't see, hear, or feel me. It was like I didn't even exist.

She jerked her head up without warning, looking straight into my eyes. Her pupils were huge. Fright may have covered her face, but the drug covered her eyes. Even through the dim and silvery light of the moon, I could see every detail in the eyes that were once filled with innocence and joy. They were glazed over and looked almost demonic. There wasn't a glint of hope in them. She had already given in to that stupid drug. I wanted to tell myself that there was still a chance to bring her back to reality, but I knew there wasn't. The drug was too powerful, it messed her up. I couldn't believe I lost my sister to synthetic chemicals.

"You lied..." she breathed.

"What?"

She kept silent. She didn't answer me. I soon realized it wasn't me she was talking to. It wasn't even me she was looking at. We saw two completely different things. I saw a frightened girl on the edge of tears who kept crying out for her brother, and honestly believing he wasn't there. She saw...well...something. I would give anything to be able to travel into her head, to tell her that nothing she saw was real, and that I was right here, just like I said I would be. I didn't give up on her five years ago, and I wouldn't now. She needed to know that. It wouldn't be enough to tell her that up front, I would have to show her.

Knowing she wouldn't reply, knowing she _couldn't_ reply, I said, "I can help you if you would just let me."

Because she wasn't letting me right now. What did she do when I called out to her? She ran. Ran as fast as humanly possible. Where did she run? Away from me. Why did she run? She didn't want to see me. When did she run? Only when I appeared.

She slowly stood up, and I took my hands off her shoulders, standing with her. When would the drug wear off? When would she see me again? I just wanted to talk to her... I cursed myself, remembering how I hadn't been able to talk to her after seeing her arm. What kind of impression had that given her? Probably not a very good one, I could tell you that much. She must've taken it the wrong way.

My breath caught in my throat. I could've been the reason she used the drug again.


	9. Chapter 9

~Chapter 9~

**(Dipper's POV)**

I couldn't sleep. I had managed to bring Mabel back to the shack and tuck her into her bed. Unfortunately, I had to wait about two or three hours for her to pass out. Even now, she grumbled and moaned. It brought back memories of when I first found her, laying on the ground, shivering, with a high temperature...and sleep-talking. Now I knew why she was like that. At that point in time, I thought nothing of it and assumed she was sick. She _was_ sick, just not in the way I wanted to believe.

Mabel groaned and turned onto her side. I needed to see Wendy about this. She was the only one who could give me anything about why Mabel would suddenly pass out and keep hallucinating even _after_ she'd lost consciousness. To my understanding, it took an incredibly high dosage to produce such a long-term effect on a person. Wendy was training to be a nurse; she might be able to whip up a concoction to counter its effects. I needed to wake Mabel up so I could try to talk her out of it.

There was just one problem... Mabel didn't want to tell me for a very obvious reason—she didn't want me to know. Now that she'd told me, she'd entrusted me with her secret. If I told someone else, or if she thought I told someone else, she would never trust me again. And if she didn't trust me, how was I supposed to help her? I could always tell her the truth about how I found out, but it had taken a lot of courage for her to show me her arm. Did I really want to disappoint her like that? Wendy could come clean and tell her about how she had been spying all this time, but the drug was messing Mabel up in more ways than one. However, I could _still_ be blamed for all of this because it had, over the course of the time she'd been back here, become harder and harder to reason with her. It wasn't necessarily her fault, but her mind was starting to go haywire. Although I'd attributed it to illness back then, I noticed just a few hours after she woke up that first night how she would sometimes have trouble doing the simplest of things, such as flipping a light switch. Her hands would usually be shaky, but it was as though her aim was off. She would grab the air around the switch, sometimes being forced to try many times before getting hold of it.

I turned onto my stomach and buried my head in my pillow. I didn't know what to do anymore. Mabel left Gravity Falls the little sweetie everyone loved. She came back a changed person no one knew. I didn't even know her anymore...

I heard the door open, already knowing who it was. Mabel was still out cold, so it was the perfect chance to have Wendy take a look at her. Although we both knew what was wrong, neither of us knew the actual damage of the drug. The only thing we really knew was that Mabel was addicted to it. We didn't know which drug it was, how many drugs were involved, the precise physical effects it had on her body, or anything else like that. Honestly, my biggest concern was where she kept getting it.

"How is she?" Wendy asked.

I lifted my head from the pillow long enough to answer, "She's been like that for an hour now."

"Well she won't wake up anytime soon, I can tell you that much," she said. "She usually stays this way for two to three hours."

"Oh." My voice came out muffled.

Wendy was apparently so used to seeing Mabel this way that she had more attention on me. She asked me a few things like how I was holding up, why I went after Mabel even after she'd used the drug, and if I was planning on telling anyone else. I kept my head down, but turned it to the side so I could answer her questions.

"Woah!" she cried suddenly. I sat up and saw her holding a needle that had a barrel much bigger than any needle I'd ever seen.

"What's that?" I asked her.

She brought her eyes from Mabel's arm and looked at me, the shock still there. "Did you see her arm?!"

I nodded. "Yeah, that was how she let me know she was on drugs."

Wendy shook the thought out of her head and held Mabel's arm stiff. I saw Mabel wince in pain as the needle was inserted into a vein in her arm.

"It's a saline solution," Wendy explained. "She hasn't been drinking enough. This will get some fluids in her."

I frowned. "Isn't there anything else you can do?"

"Like what?"

"Like something to make her less...I don't know...mentally unstable?"

She sighed. I knew immediately it couldn't be good news. She began explaining to me how it was all a matter of mind, which was ironic considering Mabel could no longer think as rationally as Wendy and I. According to Wendy, Mabel had to get off the drug and _stay _off the drug if things were going to get better. However, because she was already addicted, it was highly unlikely she would ever want to get off. Mabel was like a fish on a hook—she would hold on to the bait for as long as possible until someone pulled her off. And sadly some people were never pulled off.

"There isn't a medicine that can get her off that drug, Dipper. I'm sorry," she finished.

Her training was coming along well. She had already learned how to be direct with people.

* * *

**(Wendy's POV)**

I continued examining Mabel. I didn't tell Dipper, but she had gotten worse since I first saw her. Since I didn't know when she'd started drugs, I didn't know the rate of deterioration. But one thing was certain—she wasn't going to get any better. She wouldn't get off the drug. Dipper was too confused to tell anyone. I myself couldn't tell anyone. But she was literally destroying herself.

I put two fingers over the side of her neck, feeling for her heartbeat. It didn't take a genius to figure out it was too fast. It was unhealthy, really. A fast heartbeat meant high blood pressure. High blood pressure could lead to an assortment of problems, some minor, some major, and some fatal. She could have an aneurism, stroke, cardiac arrest, organ failure...a whole range of complications just _waiting_ to happen. If she didn't get off the drug, something was bound to happen sooner or later. And if she still refused to get off even after that, it would take a miracle to bring her out of this alive.

My worst fear was overdose.

* * *

**(Mabel's POV)**

I couldn't escape the Shadow Man. I couldn't believe Dipper had left me alone to face him! He said he would always be there but now look! Now look! I was abandoned, stuck with the Shadow Man. The Shadow Man was the embodiment of evil.

I screamed to the top of my lungs as I barely avoided a stabbing. My arm got cut and was bleeding profusely, but I knew I had to keep running. I didn't know why I still bothered to live but if I had to die, I didn't want it to be by the Shadow Man. Anything was better than him. If I had to choose between a car wreck and him, I would choose the car wreck.

"Leave me alone!" I shouted as I attempted to hide behind a tree.

When was the drug going to take effect? I was tired of running and running. My heart was racing, I could feel it beat the daylights out of my chest. The eerie shadows of the trees surrounded me. The only noise came from a few ravens screeching their horrible melody. And the Shadow Man...he could be anywhere by now. There was no doubt in my mind that he had caught up to me. Maybe he was still trying to find me. Or maybe he'd already found me... Maybe he was toying with me, like a cat plays with a mouse before eating it. What did I do so wrong to be cursed with him? Why did he keep coming after me?!

* * *

**(Dipper's POV)**

After two long hours, Mabel stopped grumbling. She gasped and jerked her head up. She was finally awake. It was weird though. She seemed to have been having one heck of a nightmare, but she didn't look around. Normally, especially after having a nightmare that bad, someone would sit up and scan the room to make sure none of it was real. She didn't. She just let her head drop back down onto her pillow. I had no idea why. At least, not until Wendy bent down to eye level and asked her if she could stand up. What did she mean by that? Was she implying that Mabel _couldn't_ get up? Was this a subtle way of telling me that my sister had a chance of being disabled?

I stood up, but made sure to keep my distance from the girls. Wendy didn't give me permission to come over there. Not yet at least. I didn't want to make anything worse by interrupting whatever was going on. I was no medic, but I knew a situation like this could be delicate.

I saw Wendy hold one of Mabel's hands and repeat herself.

This time there was a response...sort of. I watched helplessly as my sister attempted to sit upright. I could tell she was trying, but she couldn't do it. She physically couldn't sit up. And it was heartbreaking to see her struggling so hard to do something so simple.

* * *

**(Mabel's POV)**

Where was I...? Everything looked familiar, in a way, but at the same time completely foreign. I heard someone tell me to get up but my head was spinning, throbbing even. I couldn't do it. If I could just get a few minutes to compose myself, maybe I would feel better. The voice told me to hold my arm up. I managed to lift it into the air, but it kept swiveling and I couldn't make it stay there. It fell across my belly. I didn't attempt to move it again. I was asked to hold my head up. I did for a few seconds. My entire sense of balance was gone. I didn't know if I was even moving my eyes the right way anymore. When I tried to look up, was I really looking up? What about if I tightened my hand into a fist; was I really making a fist or was my hand actually staying motionless? Was I even awake right now? Was this real or in my head? I didn't know! Maybe! Why was I even asking myself this? It was pointless!

And at the same time, wasn't it so very necessary?

"I don't know, I don't even...I don't even know," I mumbled.

The voice came back, asking me something else. I ignored it. What did it have against me, anyway?

"How should I know?"

Because I was the one with ears.

"So, what's your point?"

_Aside_ from the tiny fact that I could hear...

"Whatever. Just go get some more."

Some more what?

"I don't know...that thing I guess."

What thing?

"I forgot what it's called."

* * *

**(Wendy's POV)**

"Wendy, what is she talking about?" Dipper asked.

I shook my head and shrugged. She was delirious. I doubted she even knew where she was at, let alone who she was talking to. I had always left when she passed out in the woods, thinking she would wake up and be perfectly fine. Maybe a little dazed, but fine. Apparently I was wrong. She wasn't looking around at anything, so I didn't think she was still hallucinating. But why else would she be talking about whatever it was she was talking about? The fact that she was conscious proved that the drug's effects were wearing off. Now that I was seeing her when she first woke up, however, I could tell that she was taking more than needed for an overdose. Which meant that technically...she had _already_ _overdosed_. She'd probably managed to raise her threshold to an incredibly high point, which would explain why she could still live after each dose.

Mabel had never truly managed to stay sound of mind even after the effects had fully worn off. She was only going to get worse. And if she survived this whole ordeal, she could still be seriously messed up.


End file.
